This nutty banana cake is enrobed in a decadent caramel mousse and drizzled with a caramel espresso sauce before serving. A sweet tooth’s dream!
There are some things that are just unwaveringly delicious – the combination of coffee and caramel, caramel and banana… this banana bread recipe specifically.
For the topping, I took a regular salted caramel sauce recipe, made just a quarter of the quantity stated with the addition of 1/4 teaspoon of instant espresso powder.
Somehow the density of the banana bread and airiness of the mousse didn’t work together too harmoniously (I think the mousse wasn’t rich enough – probably needed white chocolate) which was such a bummer. Just the sauce with the banana bread would have been perfect. So. I’ll leave the cake recipe below because I strongly recommend that, and the links to the other components can be found in the previous paragraph for those who are curious.
Banana Cake with Caramel Mousse
INGREDIENTS
210 grams all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
230 grams sugar
2 eggs
120 ml canola oil
3 1/2 very ripe medium bananas peeled and mashed (about 340 grams)
2 tablespoons crème fraîche or sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup walnut halves toasted and chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly drizzle in the oil. Add the bananas, crème fraîche/sour cream and vanilla and mix until just combined. Fold in the flour mixture and nuts until thoroughly combined.
Transfer batter into the pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Let cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes before removing the cake from the pan to finish cooling.
